1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus which is capable of communicating with devices or apparatuses having both a wire interface and a wireless interface, and a control method therefor, and a program for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, devices or apparatuses, such as printers and printer adapters, having a wireless interface have been more and more widely used because networks conventionally constructed using wires or cables can be changed into wireless ones which need no wiring or the like. For example, as devices compliant with the IEEE 802.11b standard for wireless interfaces, there have been proposed wireless LAN access points and wireless LAN routers.
A printer connectible to a wireless LAN, as a device with the above-mentioned wireless interface, needs no wiring or the like, and can be shared by a plurality of PCs. Therefore, even in homes, for example, it is possible to meet the needs of carrying out printing from a plurality of PCs, using a single printer (refer to e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. H07-013891 and No. 2003-050677).
However, when a wireless LAN is used, differently from the case where a wire LAN is used, it is difficult to make sure whether a printer is properly connected to the LAN. For this reason, for example, in setting up a wireless LAN, there is a fear of the setup operation being carried out and terminated in spite of actual failure in connection.
Further, in the case where printers are shared for use by a plurality of PCs, a method is employed in which the second and subsequent PCs to be connected to the printers search the wireless LAN for the printers, and a desired one of the detected printers is selected by a user. However, when a PC cannot properly find a printer via the wireless LAN, or when a plurality of printers are found, the user often has to carry out a complicated operation, which is liable to cause an erroneous operation. Moreover, in an environment where a plurality of printers of the same type are connected to the wireless LAN, the user has difficulty in finding a desired printer.